The Extent of the Legitimacy of the Activities of the Tabligh Group
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
I have a question about the Tabligh Group and their movement in society.
The Shaykh: Who are the Tabligh Jama'ah?The questioner: These are the ones the brothers are looking into, O Shaykh! The Shaykh: Who are the brothers?The questioner: This, O Shaykh! By Allah! I do not know what to explain to you.
The Shaykh: Explain it to me so that I can answer you.
The questioner: This, O Shaykh! They have, for example, going out; they walk among the people calling them to Allah.
The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner: It is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, but they have going out for three days in the month, going to another city, gathering with people who revive Sunnahs,And some people opposed them and said: This is a religious innovation. Where did you get this theory of going out from? This was not reported from the Messenger,And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: (Whoever introduces into our matter something that is not part of it, it is rejected).
The Shaykh: Yes! The questioner: Meaning he says: This is a religious innovation. How did you come up with this from yourselves?
The Shaykh: Yes! The questioner: And there are supporters of them and opponents, and they are not present in the region.
The Shaykh: Say: And there are those who are suspended, so that there is a middle ground and two extremes.
The questioner: And they are active in every region, and many people have committed themselves to the path through them, and at the time of the 'Asr prayer they gather and form groups, a group for visiting such-and-such a region, and you have a group for visiting such-and-such a region.
The Shaykh: Order?The questioner: Arrangement, O Shaykh!
As for walking in calling people, your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to go around the people in their homes during the days of the Hajj season and call them. This is one thing. And he migrated to Madinah for the sake of calling, because the people of Makkah, as is well known, harmed him and prevented him from calling, so he was commanded to migrate to Madinah so that the calling would be completed. So there is nothing wrong with this.
The questioner: So: Is there no religious innovation in that, O Shaykh?The Shaykh: Be patient, O man! We will take it little by little, as you have given it to us.
And as for arranging it for three days, or forty days, or six months, or something similar, they say: We do not say that this is a Sunnah. We say this is an arrangement, a means for steadfastness in calling. Means do not have a limit. Are you not now preaching with a (microphone)?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Well, did the Messenger preach with a (microphone)? It did not even exist originally.But he did not say: Do not preach with a means. And if the Messenger did not know that a (microphone) would exist, then the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, knows. So the means of acts of worship are not intended for their own sake, but for something else.They say: We say: Go out for three days, in order to distance yourself from the world and its pleasures, and we want to focus on occupying your time with dhikr, tasbih, reading the Qur'an, and the like.
And as for arranging their direction, each going to a different direction, this is also permissible; because whether they all gather in one direction or whether they disperse, which is better? Answer, O people.
Those present: They disperse.
The Shaykh: Their dispersing is better, because it is wider in spread; and because if they all gathered, and they are, for example, forty or fifty men, only one or two or five would speak. So distributing them among the directions is permissible. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent one to Yemen and one to other directions to call the people.Therefore: There is nothing wrong with it.
If we return to the influence: So my belief is that no one from any direction, or from any party, or from any sect has had an influence like theirs. They have a strange influence. How many lost ones were guided through them, and how many open sinners were corrected, and indeed how many disbelievers embraced Islam.It is said: The plane lands at the airport in Moscow, the land of disbelief, and then the mu'adhdhin calls the adhan and they establish the prayer in congregation in front of the people. Who is capable of this? And Allah shields them from evil. So they have influence, and there is no doubt in their influence. And there are strange stories told to us about them.
One whom I trust, and whose trustworthiness is acceptable to the scholars of hadith, told me: That a man had a sister's son who was one of the most sinful of Allah's servants and the ugliest in appearance. He would get drunk, commit fornication, and not pray. And if you saw his face, you would dislike it. So he was absent for a period of half a month, or less, or more, the important thing is a period.He says: So we said among ourselves: Perhaps Allah sent one of these reckless men to crush him and leave him. Look at this limit.He says: So while we were like that, the man knocked on the door after the 'Asr prayer.His maternal uncle says: And I was in my office, so I said to myself: Who is this ugly-looking person who comes after the 'Asr prayer? People are either saying one thing or hesitating, and what is this?So I said to him: Come in. But the door was closed, so he could not enter.So he kept knocking on the door and I said: Come in.So he says: The door is closed.He says: So I got up and opened the door, and there was this man with a bright face and a beard whom I loved. I said: What do you have, and why do you come, O my brother, at this time?! If you had come at a suitable time, we would sit with you! He said: I am your sister's son, so-and-so ibn so-and-so.So I said to him: You are lying. My sister's son is shaved, his face is dark, and the eye does not like to see him.I am not him, so I denied it! He said to me: No, I am your sister's son. And if you wish, I can recount your house to you now, room by room. I have counted it for you. If you enter, you go from the right to such-and-such a room, and from the left to such-and-such a room.And from the front, such-and-such a place!! I said: Are you him?He said: I am him.
I said: Come in. And what changed you from that state to this state? And the man—this maternal uncle—had something of violence in him.
What changed you from that state to this state?So he said: The brothers came to me and held me gently and said: To the mosque.
So I said: What do I have to do with the mosque! I have never entered it! They said: And if you have not entered it in your life, then Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.Walk with us! He says: So when we approached the mosque, they said to me: Enter the bathroom and take a bath. As long as you are in your first state, you are a disbeliever. And a disbeliever, when he embraces Islam, must take a bath. He purifies his outer and inner self.He says: So I took a bath.He says: Allah softened my heart to them, so I responded.He says: I entered the mosque and prayed, and they were making du'a for me for steadfastness, raising their hands, supplicating to Allah. And they said: Go out with us. By Allah! O my uncle! I have not tasted the pleasure of the world except through this. And it is as if I was born now. And praise be to Allah who guided us to this.
But in order to say the truth between us and Allah: These people have great ignorance. Most of them are very ignorant. And for that reason, they do not like discussion in knowledge or speech about it.They have this method, we follow it: Tasbih, takbir, tahlil, Qur'an, prayer, and calling to good. But discussion or disagreement in jurisprudence, and even in creed, they do not speak about it. This is the deficiency in them.
If the students of knowledge who are pointed to had accompanied them, studied with them, and taught them what is obligatory in the creeds, there would have been much good in them. But from this door, there has been a deficiency in them. And some of the shaykhs criticize them from this door absolutely, without looking at their good points.And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Ma'idah: 8] And if we had treated these people with justice and said: You—may Allah reward you with good—your intention is pure and your hearts are pure, your character is one of self-sacrifice, and so on from the good points, and we thank you for this. But we want to speak with you about the creed and about the stronger opinions of the jurists in practical issues. So appoint for us the elders among you so that we can teach them. If this had happened, much good would have resulted. But unfortunately, some people are repelled from them with extreme repulsion.
So we ask Allah to unite the word of everyone upon the truth.
The Shaykh: Who are the Tabligh Jama'ah?The questioner: These are the ones the brothers are looking into, O Shaykh! The Shaykh: Who are the brothers?The questioner: This, O Shaykh! By Allah! I do not know what to explain to you.
The Shaykh: Explain it to me so that I can answer you.
The questioner: This, O Shaykh! They have, for example, going out; they walk among the people calling them to Allah.
The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner: It is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, but they have going out for three days in the month, going to another city, gathering with people who revive Sunnahs,And some people opposed them and said: This is a religious innovation. Where did you get this theory of going out from? This was not reported from the Messenger,And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: (Whoever introduces into our matter something that is not part of it, it is rejected).
The Shaykh: Yes! The questioner: Meaning he says: This is a religious innovation. How did you come up with this from yourselves?
The Shaykh: Yes! The questioner: And there are supporters of them and opponents, and they are not present in the region.
The Shaykh: Say: And there are those who are suspended, so that there is a middle ground and two extremes.
The questioner: And they are active in every region, and many people have committed themselves to the path through them, and at the time of the 'Asr prayer they gather and form groups, a group for visiting such-and-such a region, and you have a group for visiting such-and-such a region.
The Shaykh: Order?The questioner: Arrangement, O Shaykh!
As for walking in calling people, your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to go around the people in their homes during the days of the Hajj season and call them. This is one thing. And he migrated to Madinah for the sake of calling, because the people of Makkah, as is well known, harmed him and prevented him from calling, so he was commanded to migrate to Madinah so that the calling would be completed. So there is nothing wrong with this.
The questioner: So: Is there no religious innovation in that, O Shaykh?The Shaykh: Be patient, O man! We will take it little by little, as you have given it to us.
And as for arranging it for three days, or forty days, or six months, or something similar, they say: We do not say that this is a Sunnah. We say this is an arrangement, a means for steadfastness in calling. Means do not have a limit. Are you not now preaching with a (microphone)?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Well, did the Messenger preach with a (microphone)? It did not even exist originally.But he did not say: Do not preach with a means. And if the Messenger did not know that a (microphone) would exist, then the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, knows. So the means of acts of worship are not intended for their own sake, but for something else.They say: We say: Go out for three days, in order to distance yourself from the world and its pleasures, and we want to focus on occupying your time with dhikr, tasbih, reading the Qur'an, and the like.
And as for arranging their direction, each going to a different direction, this is also permissible; because whether they all gather in one direction or whether they disperse, which is better? Answer, O people.
Those present: They disperse.
The Shaykh: Their dispersing is better, because it is wider in spread; and because if they all gathered, and they are, for example, forty or fifty men, only one or two or five would speak. So distributing them among the directions is permissible. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent one to Yemen and one to other directions to call the people.Therefore: There is nothing wrong with it.
If we return to the influence: So my belief is that no one from any direction, or from any party, or from any sect has had an influence like theirs. They have a strange influence. How many lost ones were guided through them, and how many open sinners were corrected, and indeed how many disbelievers embraced Islam.It is said: The plane lands at the airport in Moscow, the land of disbelief, and then the mu'adhdhin calls the adhan and they establish the prayer in congregation in front of the people. Who is capable of this? And Allah shields them from evil. So they have influence, and there is no doubt in their influence. And there are strange stories told to us about them.
One whom I trust, and whose trustworthiness is acceptable to the scholars of hadith, told me: That a man had a sister's son who was one of the most sinful of Allah's servants and the ugliest in appearance. He would get drunk, commit fornication, and not pray. And if you saw his face, you would dislike it. So he was absent for a period of half a month, or less, or more, the important thing is a period.He says: So we said among ourselves: Perhaps Allah sent one of these reckless men to crush him and leave him. Look at this limit.He says: So while we were like that, the man knocked on the door after the 'Asr prayer.His maternal uncle says: And I was in my office, so I said to myself: Who is this ugly-looking person who comes after the 'Asr prayer? People are either saying one thing or hesitating, and what is this?So I said to him: Come in. But the door was closed, so he could not enter.So he kept knocking on the door and I said: Come in.So he says: The door is closed.He says: So I got up and opened the door, and there was this man with a bright face and a beard whom I loved. I said: What do you have, and why do you come, O my brother, at this time?! If you had come at a suitable time, we would sit with you! He said: I am your sister's son, so-and-so ibn so-and-so.So I said to him: You are lying. My sister's son is shaved, his face is dark, and the eye does not like to see him.I am not him, so I denied it! He said to me: No, I am your sister's son. And if you wish, I can recount your house to you now, room by room. I have counted it for you. If you enter, you go from the right to such-and-such a room, and from the left to such-and-such a room.And from the front, such-and-such a place!! I said: Are you him?He said: I am him.
I said: Come in. And what changed you from that state to this state? And the man—this maternal uncle—had something of violence in him.
What changed you from that state to this state?So he said: The brothers came to me and held me gently and said: To the mosque.
So I said: What do I have to do with the mosque! I have never entered it! They said: And if you have not entered it in your life, then Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.Walk with us! He says: So when we approached the mosque, they said to me: Enter the bathroom and take a bath. As long as you are in your first state, you are a disbeliever. And a disbeliever, when he embraces Islam, must take a bath. He purifies his outer and inner self.He says: So I took a bath.He says: Allah softened my heart to them, so I responded.He says: I entered the mosque and prayed, and they were making du'a for me for steadfastness, raising their hands, supplicating to Allah. And they said: Go out with us. By Allah! O my uncle! I have not tasted the pleasure of the world except through this. And it is as if I was born now. And praise be to Allah who guided us to this.
But in order to say the truth between us and Allah: These people have great ignorance. Most of them are very ignorant. And for that reason, they do not like discussion in knowledge or speech about it.They have this method, we follow it: Tasbih, takbir, tahlil, Qur'an, prayer, and calling to good. But discussion or disagreement in jurisprudence, and even in creed, they do not speak about it. This is the deficiency in them.
If the students of knowledge who are pointed to had accompanied them, studied with them, and taught them what is obligatory in the creeds, there would have been much good in them. But from this door, there has been a deficiency in them. And some of the shaykhs criticize them from this door absolutely, without looking at their good points.And Allah the Exalted said:
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَى أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىSo we ask Allah to unite the word of everyone upon the truth.